I have been involved with professional golf for over three decades, first getting into the game as a teenager using my grandfather’s clubs on our local driving range. I had played many sports growing up in upstate New York, however golf was not one of them as I didn’t think it was athletic enough for me.
Once I started swinging a golf club, I took to the game quickly and had the chance to caddie at an LPGA event in Corning, New York. Soon after that opportunity, I quit my summer job and started caddying as often as possible. Over the next six years, even through college at Georgia State University, the lessons I learned on both sides of the ropes could not have been attained in any textbook.
Having graduated with a journalism degree, I stopped caddying a year or two after college to go to work for the Golf Channel. That lasted one year. Since I had also been a fitness trainer throughout college, I married my loves of golf and fitness to start my golf fitness business – Shape & Sport – in Orlando in 2000. With extensive knowledge of general fitness, I attended a biomechanics program to increase my knowledge of how the body affects the golf swing. I learned the reason why many golfers don’t get enough turn in their backswing and how one’s physical capabilities hinder the golf swing that every golfer desires. With some hesitation, the golf instructors of the time started seeing the benefits that I brought to their clients and how we could collaborate for the betterment of their students. It’s become more of a team mentality as golf fitness is now prominent in most player development programs.
I ended up traveling with and training players on the PGA and LPGA Tours for 20 years. I have been featured on ESPN, The Golf Channel, Golf Digest, Golf Digest Schools, Golfweek and PGA Tour Radio, and have been a TPI presenter and speaker. I believe in the biomechanics of the golf swing/body connection and focus on correcting swing flaws through various restorative methods, and I have built my business around my continued education and the success of my students and clients.
Today Shape & Sport is based out of Brentwood Country Club in Los Angeles, with my own home studio available for non-Brentwood members to better their health and wellness. I work with our golf instructors to provide the highest level of service to our BCC members, attending their golf lessons and watching swing videos to help golfers improve their mobility, flexibility, power and more. I collaborate with our PGA of America golf coaches to deliver solutions that members seek in their progress as golfers.
As was the case when I was training players on Tour, word-of-mouth drives business growth at the country club level. Success with one Brentwood Country Club member often manifests into new clients and increased business.
With a diverse client roster, I start each new client with a personal assessment to gauge they mobility system and see where they have strength and stability issues. I also look at their swing and focus on their sequence of movements. This is our starting point.
Mobility issues are often interrelated with their movement patterns. We seek to get them more mobile and stronger to improve those vital movement patterns. At the end of the day, what we work on comes down to what the golfer brings to the table at the outset.
I use Sportsbox AI for 3D motion analysis and know enough about movement patterns and the sequencing of the golf swing to know what my golfers are doing wrong and can tie those deficiencies to issues within their body and its capabilities, or lack thereof. In fact, golfers send me videos of their golf swing, asking for feedback on what they’re doing wrong and how it relates to their body. As a result, I tell them what mobility issues I want them to work on and prescribe specific exercises that improve their strength and mobility.
I believe there’s great value in working with our golf professionals. It serves our shared clients better and creates growth in my business. We work with golfers of all skill levels and body types, helping the high-level college player get to the next level while also ensuring an aging BCC member can play the game he or she loves longer in life and with less pain.
Andrea Doddato, a Golf Digest Best Trainer in America and 2024 GFAA Industry Leader Award recipient, is the Founder of Shape and Sport, located at Brentwood Country Club in Los Angeles, California.